Korean Women's Table Tennis Achieves 'Finishing Strong'... Bronze Medal After 16 Years 'Great Achievement' [Paris Olympics]

Shin Yubin Becomes 'Multi Medalist' for the First Time in 32 Years

Korean women's table tennis concluded the tournament by winning the Olympic team event bronze medal for the first time in 16 years.

Composed of Shin Yubin, Lee Eunhye (both from Korean Air), and Jeon Jihee (Mirae Asset Securities), the Korean team defeated Germany 3-0 in the bronze medal match of the women's team event at the 2024 Paris Olympics held on the 10th at the South Paris Arena in France, securing the bronze medal. This also avenged their defeat to Germany in the quarterfinals of the women's team event at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

With this, Korean table tennis earned a medal in this event for the first time in 16 years since the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. It is also the first Olympic medal in 16 years across both women's team and women's singles events.

Shin Yubin, who had previously won a bronze medal in mixed doubles with Lim Jonghoon (Korea Exchange), added a second bronze medal, becoming a 'multi-medalist.' It is the first time in 32 years since the 1992 Barcelona Games that Korean table tennis produced a multi-medalist at the Olympics, when Kim Taeksu (Vice President of the Korea Table Tennis Association) won bronze medals in men's singles and men's doubles, and Hyun Junghwa (Korea Racing Authority coach) won bronze medals in women's singles and women's doubles.

Shin Yubin, who competed in all three events including women's singles, endured a grueling schedule, playing 14 matches over 15 days from the opening day to the day before the closing, achieving a valuable result.

Jeon Jihee, who naturalized from China in 2011 and has reigned as the domestic ace but had no Olympic medal until now, finally earned her first medal after three Olympic attempts. Lee Eunhye, also naturalized from China in 2011, made her Olympic debut this time. Korean table tennis finished the tournament with two bronze medals. This is the best result since the 2012 London Games, where they won one silver medal in the men's team event.

Both Korea and Germany fielded their existing doubles pairs without changes, leading to a direct confrontation. The 'Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal pair' Shin Yubin-Jeon Jihee easily took the first two games against the 'Chinese duo' Wan Yuan and Shan Xiaona, but struggled in the next two games against Shan Xiaona’s tricky pimples rubber shots, and the match extended to five games.

The intense battle ended with Korea winning 3-2 (11-6 11-8 8-11 10-12 11-8) thanks to Jeon Jihee’s sharp forehand and the opponent’s errors, scoring 11 points first. Lee Eunhye (ranked 44th), considered the 'weakest link' in the women's team, defeated Germany’s 18-year-old rising star Kaufmann (ranked 100th) 3-0 (11-8 11-9 11-2) in the second singles, helping Korea cross the final hurdle toward the bronze medal.

Kaufmann joined the German team unexpectedly, replacing the injured veteran Han Ying, and showed surprisingly good skills as the 'singles ace' and promising player. However, Lee Eunhye, equipped with power comparable to European players and superior match management skills, proved to be a level above.

The third singles was a match between two veterans: 31-year-old Jeon Jihee (ranked 15th) and 41-year-old Shan Xiaona (ranked 40th). Jeon Jihee maintained control of the match until the end, clearly demonstrating the ranking gap of 25 places throughout the game, and finished with a 3-0 (11-6 11-6 11-6) decisive victory to seal Korea’s win.

Jeon Jihee raised her clenched fists in triumph, expressing her joy at winning her first Olympic medal. The three players and head coach Oh Gwangheon then embraced and patted each other on the back.